Hopkins women return to tourney as host team 12-2 Blue Jays to play Denison

May 05, 1993|By Marc Bouchard | Marc Bouchard,Contributing Writer

The Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament since 1990 when the Blue Jays play host to Denison in a first-round game Saturday at 1 p.m.

"We're very fortunate to host [a first-round game]," said Hopkins coach Sally Anderson. "We've got a real good shot at getting into the Final Four."

Hopkins (12-2) closed out its regular season with an overtime loss to Haverford in the Middle Atlantic Conference championship game, but Anderson said that loss may help the Blue Jays in the NCAA tournament.

"It was a shocking loss," said Anderson. "We didn't expect to lose that game, but I think it should help us in the long run.

"If we get in that [overtime] situation again, we'll be better prepared."

The Blue Jays made four straight postseason appearances from 1987 to 1990, reaching the semifinals in 1988, where they lost to eventual champion Trenton State, 12-7.

Only Trenton State and Ursinus have won Division III titles since the tournament began in 1985.

If the Blue Jays beat Denison (13-2), they will play the Rowan-William Smith winner in the semifinals.

The semifinals and championship will be played next weekend at the University of Maryland's Byrd Stadium.

Essex unhappy with JuCo seed

Essex Community College (10-0) received the No. 2 seed in the NJCAA tournament which will be held this weekend in Corning, N.Y., but Essex coach Tim Puls says the Knights deserved better.

"We should be No. 1," said Puls. "We have the toughest conference in the country [the Maryland JuCo Conference], and we beat Nassau, 20-11, [while] Herkimer beat Nassau, 12-7."

Herkimer (15-0) received the top seed in the tournament and will play No. 4 Harford Community College (8-3) Saturday at 1 p.m. Essex will play No. 3 Nassau (6-5) at 3:30 p.m.

The championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m.

Hopkins announces recruits

The Johns Hopkins men's team, stacked with quality underclassmen, has signed 10 high school standouts from five states.

Hopkins signed three players from Maryland, three from New York, two from New Jersey, one from Michigan and one from Pennsylvania.

Of the three Maryland players, two are from the Maryland Scholastic Association (Bill Evans, a midfielder/attackman from Loyola High School, and Mac McCulloch, a defenseman from St. Paul's) and one is from Howard County (Werner Krueger, a midfielder from Centennial).